Ajarb Bernard Ategwa

Born in 1988 in Kumba - Cameroon Ajarb is a visual artist who lives and works in Douala - Cameroon A self-taught artist, he started in 1998 with illustrations on plywood, marking the beginning of his career as a painter. When he arrived in Douala in 2001, he saw a new dimension of painting at the French Cultural Centre during the exhibition of the artist Hako Hankson.

He discovered creative and audacious artists whose works inspired him, a mosaic of philosophies where each one defends its specificity. Ajarb's work focuses on the street life he knows well. It reveals a plural, hard-working, noisy and eclectic city. Within the urban chaos, Ajarb opens up to sequences of daily life where the tranquility of a pause, a respite, contrasts with the madness of the times. He succeeds in depicting the contrast between the multi-polar energy and constant movement in public spaces, opposed to the moment of truth when the characters pause, as if in suspension. He does not deny the bustling city, he intercepts the ceasefire. The density of the occupation of space is then highlighted, imposing a kind of truce, a pure hole of poetry in the disorder.

In a writing that reveals the traits of Pop Art, Ajarb's work reveals traits of influence from artists such as Jackson Pollock with the profusion of colour and Damien Hirst. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Cameroon and around the world. Represented by Jack Bell gallery London , Peres Projects Gallery Berlin, Fredric SNITZER Gallery Miami and OOA GALLERY Barcelona, his work has been shown in prestigious fairs such as Art BASEL, FIAC, Expo Chicago, Frieze. Some of Ajarb's creations are part of the famous collections Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Zuzeum Art Centre.

A self-taught artist, he started in 1998 with illustrations on plywood, marking the beginning of his career as a painter. When he arrived in Douala in 2001, he saw a new dimension of painting at the French Cultural Centre during the exhibition of the artist Hako Hankson. He discovered creative and audacious artists whose works inspired him, a mosaic of philosophies where each one defends its specificity.

Ajarb's work focuses on the street life he knows well. It reveals a plural, hard-working, noisy and eclectic city. Within the urban chaos, Ajarb opens up to sequences of daily life where the tranquility of a pause, a respite, contrasts with the madness of the times. He succeeds in depicting the contrast between the multi-polar energy and constant movement in public spaces, opposed to the moment of truth when the characters pause, as if in suspension. He does not deny the bustling city, he intercepts the ceasefire. The density of the occupation of space is then highlighted, imposing a kind of truce, a pure hole of poetry in the disorder. In a writing that reveals the traits of Pop Art.

Ajarb's work reveals traits of influence from artists such as Jackson Pollock with the profusion of colour and Damien Hirst.He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Cameroon and around the world. Represented by Jack Bell gallery London , Peres Projects Gallery Berlin, Fredric SNITZER Gallery Miami and OOA GALLERY Barcelona, his work has been shown in prestigious fairs such as Art BASEL, FIAC, Expo Chicago, Frieze.

Some of Ajarb's creations are part of the famous collections Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Zuzeum Art Centre.